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Mr. MacLachlan owns an
electric mandolin he built in a workshop conducted by Welsh builder
Tony Revell.
He plays it occasionally with
Sound of
Islay
in Glasgow.
These days Paul is known mostly as one of America's foremost
swing
fiddlers. He did, however, serve stints with Merle Haggard, the
Gatlin Bros., and Asleep at the Wheel, doubling on fiddle and
electric mandolin. Paul
reportedly played an electrified
Gibson
A-style mandolin, and also owned a
Roberts Tiny Moore model.
The Jethro Tull frontman is best known for playing the flute, but
has also used an electric mandolin.
Remember the Orson Welles movie (and, later, radio show) The
Third Man? Remember that gypsy-style theme music played on the
zither? Well, believe it or not,
Dave Apollon, one of the greatest mandolinists of the 20th
century, made his own recording of that theme, played on, of all
things, an electric mandola.
Bob is known primarily as a leading bluegrass player and teacher in
Southern California. He also owns a 5-string
Schwab electric mandolin,
which he uses mostly for MIDI applications.
Former electric mandolinist with Australia's Elision Ensemble.
A multi-instrumentalist who has toured with Bob Dylan.
David lives in
Georgia. He played fiddle with the Jerry Reed Band from 1981 to
1984, and sometimes used a
Schwab electric mandolin. David recovered from a serious car
accident—after being told he'd never walk again, he played his first
post-accident gig in May 2000. Currently he plays with Atlanta's Blueground Undergrass.
Toronto-based Breit
played electric mandolin on Cassandra Wilson's CD Traveling
Miles, a tribute to Miles Davis. He has also toured with Wilson,
and records for his own label,
Poverty
Playlist, both as a solo artist and a member of a band called
Sisters Euclid.
On his LP Blackjack, released in 1976, the late, redoubtable
Gatemouth was
credited with playing the electric mandolin, as well as guitar,
fiddle, viola, harmonica, and kitchen sink. Don't forget, Gate grew
up not far from
Tiny Moore.
Plays electric mandola with Boojum Twist, an Ithaca, N.Y.–based
band.
Jon lives in Agoura,
California, and plays a Roberts Tiny Moore 5-string. His interest in
fusion has led him into a variety of styles; he writes: "I play a
little bit of everything—bluegrass, metal, rock, some jazz and Frank
Zappa (I learned Lumpy Gravy just the other day)."
An Indianapolis-based blues player,
Mike plays a
Schwab 5-string, a
customized
Kentucky 5-string, and the
Harmony 8-string
acoustic/electric formerly owned by
Yank Rachell.
Carr
is best known as a former member of Country Gazette, and for his
duet recordings with banjoist Alan Munde. He is an instructor in the
bluegrass program at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. He
has released a series of instructional videos, one of which, "Hot
Mandolin Styles," includes some techniques for playing 5-string
solidbody mandolin a la Tiny Moore.
The video is available from
Elderly Instruments.
Fiddler/electric mandolinist who plays Western swing with
Kelly Clark and
the Wild River Band in Houston.
The well-known blues/eclectic player has been stretching the
boundaries of the mandolin for decades. He contributed some electric
mandola to A.J. Croce's album That's Me in the Bar. I'm sure
there are plenty of other Cooder electric mandolin tracks out there.
Sims is the founder of swing band
Harmonious Wail. Among his mandolins, until he sold it, was a
Schwab
5-string electric. Check out the Harmonious Wail
home page.
Legendary Cajun fiddler and leader of the band Beausoleil. Recorded
a side project called Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew, on which
both he and Niles Hokkanen
played electric mandolin.
Chris plays with Bay Area experimental band
Terra Nova. Among his many instruments is an electric cittern
built by
Fatdog.
Maine luthier Eckhaus,
proprietor of Earnest Instruments, plays electric mandolin with the
Pinetones, which he describes as "Maine's only Western swing/Italian
band."
Stephen plays guitar, as
well as a Fender electric
mandolin, with the Guinea Pigs in Boulder, Colorado.
A fiddler, mandolinist, and composer who teaches at Mark O'Connor's
summer fiddle camps. He plays an electric mandolin as a sideman on
some
Western swing recordings with Leon Rausch, Tommy Allsup, and Tom
Morrell. These recordings also feature Buddy
Spicher
on electric mandolin and fiddle. Regarding his mandolin, Randy
writes:
"It is a 1954 Gibson A50 that I had customized in 1980 by Dan Altillo of Topgear Guitar in La Mesa, California. He built the pickup and installed the volume and tone controls and the whole works. The pickup is made from a 1949 Telecaster pickup minus two of the magnets and wound with. 020 wire. That is as technical as I can get about it; I don't know a lot about the wiring side of things. It is strung up A-D-G-C using. 10-.20-.30-.46 gauge Dean Markley strings usually." In other words, Randy's mandolin setup is nearly identical to Johnny Gimble's. In fact, if you check out this photo of Gimble you can see Randy peeking out from behind him. You can order Randy's latest recording, The Boys in the Band, from Randy Elmore, P.O. Box 1462, Cleburne, TX 76033. CDs are $17 and cassettes are $12, which includes shipping and handling.
Matt occasionally played electric mandolin as a member of the
experimental Amoebic Ensemble (since disbanded) in Providence, R.I.
A veteran on the Seattle mandolin scene, Jim was a founding member
of the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra. He has played a
Gibson EM200 with a Gary
Price tailpiece in the
Midnight Trio.
Dave plays a
Fender FM-52E, as well as a
Danelectro Jerry Jones 6-string bass, with Roy Heinrich and the
Pickups, a honky-tonk band.
Based in Portland, Oregon,
Jason
plays Turkish and experimental jazz music. He's primarily an
electric bassist, but also plays a
Fender
FM-52E.
Jim's electrics include an
early '60s Gibson Florentine
EM-200; a late '30s Gibson
EM-150 with a Charlie Christian pickup; and a
Roberts Tiny Moore
5-string.
A classical player from Washington, D.C., who has custom-built a few
8-string solidbody electrics (and occasionally plays one—but not for
classical music).
Joel plays swing and Western
swing with various groups in the Boston area. He plays the
"Hampstercaster," a 5-string electric mandolin he built himself (his
followup project is an octave model). He's the author of an electric
mandolin article on
MandoZine.
Aaron writes: "I play electric
and acoustic mandolin for several bands in the Boston area: Boris
McCutcheon, The SpringHill Rounders, and Bow Thayer and the
Euphorians. I was taught by Jimmy
Ryan."
A member of the now-defunct Bay Area string band Back Up and Push,
John built and played some solidbody mandolins resembling the
Roberts Tiny Moore model.
Stan plays jazz and Western swing on a couple of 5-string solidbody
mandolins he built himself.
Based in the Kansas City area,
Bruce is known primarily as an acoustic mandolinist with a
strong classical bent. But he often uses a 5-string electric for
"cheesy rock gigs," as he puts it, and combines it with a MIDI
controller to
compose music.
Played electric mandolin on Kate Wolf's album Gold in California.
He's also the mandolinist for the
Cache Valley
Drifters.
Frank resides in Dubuque,
Iowa, where he plays "country, bluegrass, and a little jazz" on a
Gibson EM-150. He's also a
fingerstyle guitarist.
Guitarist/electric mandolinist with Peter Gordon and the Love of
Life Orchestra.
Peter has recorded with the dB's and Continental Drifters. He's also
played electric mandolin and keyboards with REM and Hootie and the
Blowfish.
The acclaimed guitarist for prog-rock supergroup Yes has performed
with electric mandolin. (Some Yes freaks have reported that it's
actually an electric mandola. Whatever.)
Played with Tennessee-based progressive art/pop/rock band Human
Radio.
Mike writes, from
Harrisville, Utah:
"I've been fascinated by the instrument ever since I first saw Tiny Moore playing his Bigsby at a fiddle contest back in the late seventies. I was later blown away by Ricky Skaggs' string bender solos on his Joe Glaser mandos. If your readers want to see Ricky playing his electric, they should check his Live in London video. It features a great mando solo on the last half of 'Don't Get Above Your Raisin'.' "A number of years ago I was fortunate to find a used Schwab five-string at a local music shop. It has a red 'strat' style body (as opposed to a 'tele'), a highly figured curly maple neck, and an ebony fingerboard. I customized it by replacing the original humbucker with two Seymour Duncan humbuckers set up with single-coil splits. I'm running direct to the PA from a Digitech 2101 processor. What a fun instrument! Although I primarily play in acoustic ensembles, about once a month I get to perform with local country and rock bands. While this gives me my electric 'fix,' someday I'd like to form a western swing band and really focus on this great instrument!"
Plays guitars, Moog, and electric mandolin with a German band called
M. Walking on the Water.
A noted experimental electric guitarist from the Bay Area, Kaiser
records extensively, and reportedly has used electric mandolin.
Richie writes: "I play my
acoustic
Monteleone,
the Schwab electric and a
custom Flying Vee 'Vandolin' (I'm not kidding!), with Mark Cosgrove,
former national guitar champ, in the Philadelphia area."
Plays fiddle, electric mandolin, tin whistle, and electric pipes
with Celtic Brew in Germany.
After producing Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball album,
guitarist/songwriter Lanois toured with her, playing electric
mandolin on some songs.
Greg writes: "I play a
Schwab 4-string and a
Rigelcaster for a San
Francisco Bay Area funk-jam band."
Guitarist/electric mandolinist for 1970s Italian rock group Il Volo.
One of popular music's most respected guitarists, British-born
Lee
also played some electric mandolin on LPs with his band Heads, Hands
& Feet. He also contributed to
Maestro Alex Gregory's new Another Millennium? CD.
Chris is from
the UK and plays a Telecaster-shaped electric mando by
Tony Revell. He writes: "I'm
in a new band called The Family Mahone. They started life as Pogues
sound-alike band, but after a year we're doing almost all original
stuff, mainly songs about drinking in Manchester, which is where
Mark (Radcliffe) the singer and drummer is from. It's a 6-piece band
with drums, bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle (Dave Russel
from Full House), and accordion."
Fiddler/keyboardist/electric mandolinist for an early Asleep at the
Wheel lineup.
Eclectic multi-instrumentalist Lindley plays just about everything
with strings on it. To hear him on electric bouzouki, check out the
track "Put Down the Gun" from Peter Case's album The Man with the
Blue Postmodern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar.
Bob plays with The Geezers in
Concord, California. It's kind of hard to keep track of his
instruments, but they have included a
Rigel
A Plus Deluxe.
Reportedly used a Kay electric
on the first Hole album. Just makes you want to run right out and
buy it, doesn’t it? (Actually, the instrument itself was offered for
sale after the album came out, and passed through several sets of
hands.)
Recorded with Chainsaw Jazz.
Known primarily as a classical player, Mair also plays electric with
a Providence, R.I., band called
Clean and Friendly. She owns a Flying V built by
Neil Gladd, as well as a Washburn electric.
Evan is known primarily as a virtuoso duo-style acoustic player; he
has
also fronted a bluegrass band at Disneyland and is at least a former,
if not a current, owner of a
Schwab
electric.
Brilliant multi-instrumentalist; member of the Modern Mandolin
Quartet and Psychograss; has played electric with Darol Anger's jazz
group Montreux. In addition to playing a
John Knutson
solidbody 5-string mandolin,
Marshall
also uses a Baggs
pickup and a
Crown
microphone on his Lloyd Loar Gibson F5.
Ben is the proud owner of
a Fender FM-60E 5-string
and a custom-made
Rattlesnake acoustic mandolin with a built-in pickup. He's
studying at
Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona.
Swing fiddler/mandolinist who recorded with an electric mando on the
CD Cactus Setup with jazz vocalist
Rebecca
Kilgore. If I'm not mistaken, James is the brother of
guitarist/bassist/composer
Molly Mason.
Steve works at
Ifshin Violins
in Berkeley, California. He's a mandolinist as well as a violinist,
and does his electric playing on a
Steve Ryder EM24.
Played on Bill Miller's album Raven in the Snow.
Has recorded with Minneapolis-based Celtic band rainTribe.
At 13, Donovan was already a bandleader with Oxford, Mississippi's
Bush River Band, featuring his father,
Barra, on rhythm guitar.
Donovan's regional pro gigs in Mississippi have included the
Mississippi State Fair, the Thacker Mountain radio program in
Oxford, and Channel 9 in Tupelo. The band plays Beatles, traditional
Irish, traditional Southern, jazz, Latin, and folk rock. Donovan has
used an Alvarez mandolin with a
Fishman
pickup, but reportedly upgraded to a
Weber
acoustic with built-in electronics.
Tom plays
12-string guitar, washtub bass, and electric mandolin in an
Arizona-based duo called the
Amazing McNasty Brothers.
John
writes: "I play the only J. R. Zeidler electric mandolin that I am
aware of—Les Paul body shape, 1979 vintage. It has 5 strings and a
single DiMarzio humbucker."
Buddy plays Western swing on a
Gibson A-50 with a pickup he
built himself. He lives near Las Vegas, Nevada, and plays all over the Southwest.
Known mostly for his powerhouse bluegrass playing with late brother
Jim, but reportedly has recorded with a
Kent electric.
Served for a brief stint as the electric mandolinist for UK
folk/punk band The Levellers.
Best known as a country songwriter, Miller began his career playing
electric mandolin in the Four Aces.
Former electric violinist/mandolinist with Canadian progressive rock
trio
FM. Has worked extensively with k.d. lang and done some
production work for Barenaked Ladies.
Anthony owns a
J. L. Smith 5-string
electric. He writes: "I play jazz, blues and swing in Louisville,
Kentucky, as well as slide
guitar (pedal and lap). I play the mandolin through a Henriksen
Covertible II amp...a beautiful, well rounded sound, with a lot of
volume, if I need it."
Peter has owned a Gibson
Florentine, an Earnest, and
a
Schwab (as well as many
other mandolins). He's also worked for
Rigel
Mandolins and now owns New Millennium Acoustic Design (NewMAD), which makes
carbon fiber mandolins.
Formerly with Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit from
Athens, Georgia. He played a custom 5-string electric by
Jim Bickerstaff, an
Athens-based mandolinist and recording engineer, and also owned a
4-string by Kent Everett.
That's right, one of Ricky's long-haired pretty boy kids. Played
some electric mando on Nelson's album Because They Can. I
guess he played it because he could.
Known today as a songwriter and producer in his own right, Neuwirth
was a member of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in the 1970s, and
played electric mandolin on a few songs.
Cheap Trick guitarist Nielsen owns many custom instruments by
Hamer, among which is an
electric mandocello.
Jim lives in Madison,
Wisconsin, and plays classic country with the Black Diamond Band, as
well as Celtic, swing, Texas-style fiddle tunes, and bluegrass. He
writes: "I have a handmade custom 5-string ash mando (by
Marc Sean Price) with a pair
of Bill Lawrence pickups and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube blues
amp—a combination that not only plays like a dream but has
incredible quality of sound and an infinite number of voices. I have
less than $1,500 in it—not bad for close to the best. I play with a
classic country band and it has become my instrument of choice for
most of our material. I get a big fat sound for the Western swing
type stuff. Only draw back is the weight—about ten pounds—almost as
bad as a banjo. I also play an EM-150 and an old F7."
Mandolinist with the Pointless Brothers, from Alden, New York,
Paul
plays a
Phoenix
Ultra acoustic and a Stew-Mac
5-string electric.
Fiddler/electric mandolinist who plays Western swing with
Kelly Clark and
the Wild River Band in Houston.
Tom is a mandolinist who operates
Flat Five Press and
Recording Co. in Roanoke, Virginia. He sometimes contributes
acoustic and electric mandolin tracks to recordings made at his
studio, and has published an advanced music theory text for
mandolinists.
Brendan writes, from
Galway, Ireland: "I have recorded with
Donal Lunny, Waterboys, John Prine, and a lot of top Irish acts.
I play a newly acquired Godin
A8, a
Fender FM61SE, and a
Paul Doyle
mandolin, a lovely instrument. I am also having an e-bouzouki made
by
Andreas Köpke of Pendennis
Instruments in Germany. His electric instruments are beautifully
constructed and sound great."
Probably best known for his multiple appearances on "A Prairie Home
Companion,"
Ostroushko has used a Schwab
electric.
This L.A. studio ace has played guitar on tons of albums. He
contributed some electric mandolin on Linda Ronstadt's Feels Like
Home.
A former member of American Music Club, Danny plays guitar, banjo,
and electric mandolin with
Clodhopper in the Bay Area.
Ted is the mandolin player with Big Blow and the Bushwackers, a
didgeridu-based band out of Salisbury, Maryland. They have no guitar
player. You can hear Ted
on his 1972
Eko electric (built in Ricanti,
Italy) on their 1996 Habagoola CD. In shows, Ted uses his Eko
on a calypso medley, a Big Walter Horton blues tune, and a
self-penned number, "How Many Miles to Babylon?" Ted makes no claim
to authenticity and has a hell of a good time making ridiculously
fun music at all-ages shows.
Blaine lives in
Newfoundland, Canada. He writes: "I own a
Vester
acoustic/electric, which is comparable to the
Fender
FM-52E acoustic/electric model."
Born in Elkhorn, Kentucky, in 1935, Elster "Red" Ratliff started his
professional mandolin career at age 15 with Buster Pack and the
Lonesome Pine Boys, a bluegrass band, on WCYB. At some point, Buster
and the Boys must have decided to branch out a little, because they
recorded some rockabilly material where Red played electric
mandolin. He later played with Hobo Jack Atkins, Kenny Baker, the
Prairie Union Bluegrass Band, Breakwater Bluegrass, New Cut Road,
and the Chicago Bluegrass Band. Red died on Sept. 3, 2000.
Chris plays a
5-string electric he built himself. He writes, from Prescott,
Wisconsin: "I fit the bill of the type of guy who plays with a bunch
of loud, amplified guitar and keyboard players. My acoustic mandolin
(which I also built from scratch) does pretty good with a
piezo pickup, but I have always wanted to try a true electric
mandolin. The cheapest way for me to do it was to build my own."
Fiddler/electric mandolinist for popular Western swing revivalists
Asleep at the Wheel.
Dij lives in Seattle. He
writes: "I have been playing mostly 'lectric for a good while now.
Lots of funk, rock & reggae style stuff. I use a McIntyre in my F,
and a 40-year-old
Eko pickup in my semisolid, but
I'm buying a RichTone
solidbody soon. I play through an old Morley bass wah pedal, with a
Pignose for a preamp (and even a vintage Vox tonebender once in a
while), all of which sound great on the 'lectric mando. I find sound
FX designed for either bass or acoustic guitar usually sound best,
though I've often had to tweak out some high and high-mid with an EQ
(usually last in the chain before recording or preamping)."
Bluegrass hero and longtime Laurie Lewis sideman
Rozum
plays a 5-string Michael
Stevens
electric for one tune on his solo release, Jubilee.
John writes: "In the '80s, I
played in a popular Seattle band called the Swingin' Swamis. It was
a honky-tonk, jazz, and western swing band. I played a
Roberts Tiny Moore 5-string
and a Gibson electric
Florentine through a Fender Twin. I've been playing in a
honky-tonk/western swing/hillbilly band called Cash for Junkers in
Missoula, Montana, since 1998, and i'm now using a Weber Yellowstone
with a McIntyre Feather pickup. I'm currently using a Fender
Acoustisonic Jr. amp, but I'm unhappy with it and am looking for a
good used Peavey Reno 400."
If you're a rabid Camper van Beethoven fan, you probably already
know that Segel, former Beethoven frontman, has used an electric
mandolin, among many other instruments. Even if you're not a rabid
fan, now you know this anyway.
Experimental composer/player
Sharp used an electric mandocello on a project called Revenge
of the Stuttering Child with poet Ronny Someck.
Larry has played at
Silver Dollar City in Missouri for 26 years. For amplified swing
music, he has used a '30s Gibson
A-50 with a pickup—tuned CGDA, like Johnny Gimble's mandolin—but
also uses a white, solidbody 4-string mandolin with a Seymour Duncan
pickup, built by Los Angeles luthier extraordinaire
Danny
Ferrington.
A contemporary Western swing player who has recorded with Ted
Scanlon and the Desperados.
Guitarist, mandolinist, and founding member of
The Ukrainians, a UK-based folk/punk band that sings all its
songs in Ukrainian.
Monster Nashville session fiddler who picked up an electric mandolin
for Tommy Allsup and Leon Rausch's three-volume
Bob Wills tribute collection. Randy Elmore
also played electric mando on these.
Before he started wearing a fringed motorcycle jacket and playing
commercial country music, Stuart was a wunderkind mandolinist with
Lester Flatt. He's still known to play a mean acoustic mandolin, as
well as a
Schwab electric.
John lives on
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where he's a mandolin dealer as
well as a player. John's mandolins have included an
E. F. Elliott, a
Rigel, a 1966
Fender Mandocaster, a
Spicer, an
Epiphone Mandobird, and an
Ovation.
Bluesman Suhler leads a trio called
Monkey Beat.
He plays primarily guitar and lap steel, but has used an electric
mandolin.
The ex-Police guitarist owns an electric mandolin, according to a
"gear list" posted long ago by some Police junkie. (No point in
linking you to the list, which is no longer up.) Wherever Andy is, I
hope he's pulling that thing out and playing it every once in a
while.
A former member of Shadowfax and Human Drama,
Szmadzinski
is mostly a violinist, but has used electric mandolin.
Max writes: "I have a couple
of Gibson
EM-200s...one for me and one for my son. One is a 1954, judging from
the pots, and the other is a 1962. I still think these may be the
best electric mandolins ever made."
Sebastian plays a solidbody electric by German builder
Thomas Dotzauer.
His band is a trio called
Well Done
Triet; they play Deutscher Schlager (German pop) music.
Dan is a singer/multi-instrumentalist with emphasis on the
multi. His release Honey Be There features some electric
mandolin playing.
Known as a world-class bluegrass picker, Tony recovered from severe
fasciitis a few years ago. He worked out with an electric as part of
his
therapy, because of the lower action and ease of playing
compared to an acoustic.
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